The police did manage to see the funny side, but only after reportedly telling him that he was lucky he was at home, otherwise they would have been forced to break down his front door.

They didn’t even seem to have considered that this profile picture had been up for a month.

It isn’t clear which wise “friend” of Driscoll’s contacted the police to tell them of his arms cache. It might have been polite of this person to at least own up to the marginal over-reaction.

A representative for the Gloucestershire police told the Mail: “We are sure that the community would rather we acted quickly on information given to us of this nature, in case it had turned out to be a weapon.”

Many will be glad of the police’s confidence in this matter. Perhaps a phone call to Driscoll might have obviated the necessity for a raid.

Still, it is heartening that he has stood his ground and continued to make believe that he is really Action Man.

The profile picture, with mortar in the background, is still on his Facebook page today.